Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a crumb rubber coating with a hydrophobic surface and a method of making the same.
Description of the Related Art
The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
Crumb rubber is a type of rubber material, typically extracted from automotive and truck scrap tires. During the recycling process, steel and fluff is removed, leaving tire rubber with a granular consistency. Continued processing with a granulator and/or cracker mill, often with the aid of cryogenics or mechanical means, reduces the size of the particles further. The particles are sized and classified based on various criteria, such as color (“black only” or “black and white”). The granulate is sized by passing it through a screen. The size is based on the dimension of the screen or on its mesh. Although recycling of scrap tires is highly desirable, the uses of crumb rubber have, thus far, been fairly limited. Crumb rubber is primarily used in artificial turf as cushioning, where it is sometimes referred to as “astro-dirt”. Given the large volume of scrap tires around the world, and the need to conserve natural resources, as well as reducing pollutants, it would be desirable to provide further recycling uses for crumb rubber.
Typical commercially available coating products for piping and the like are either relatively hard, such as conventional epoxies and polyurethanes, or relatively expensive and difficult to apply, such as polysulfide and polyurea. Further, even the flexible, modified epoxies and polyurethanes lose their flexibility quickly as time elapses. It would be desirable to provide a flexible industrial coating, preferably with a hydrophobic surface to repel water and dust, for the protection of steel and concrete structures and other materials exposed to water and industrial chemicals, and to further provide such a coating that could utilize recycled crumb rubber.
Thus, it is an object of this disclosure to provide a crumb rubber coating, preferably a recycled crumb rubber coating, with a hyrdrophobic surface and a method of making the same.